Let's just start all the way from the beginning. Well, not from the actual beginning, but the beginning I met Yixing. It was around when I was almost six years old; my father had randomly came home early with a woman. In my opinion, she didn't really look all that. She just looked like an average woman who didn't have any feelings for anything. My father had brought her home to meet me, saying stuff like "Isn't she pretty? Wouldn't you want her as your mother?"

I stared at him in the eyes with a distraught face and didn't reply to his constant questions. He told me that he was going to marry her and they both gave me a smug look. I didn't expect her to have a child because to be honest, she looked like a total at first.

The following day I met Yixing and let me tell you, for someone I never saw in my life, he looked adorable. This may seem wrong but I admit to it, I possibly did have a few tiny feelings for him when I first saw him but that's beside the point. It surprised me to see that an angel was made from the woman that gave birth to him. It was a highly arguable possibility that he wasn't her real child but I put that thought aside.

After our parents got married Yixing gege and I were inseparable. Sure we didn't get off on the right foot at first, I repeatedly pushed him down so what? He dealt with it, that's all that mattered at first. I remember one time after my father got home drunk and used me as his stress relief. After that relief session I trapped myself in my closet.

No one wondered where I was except for Yixing gege. When everyone went to sleep, Yixing gege found me hiding the closet with bruises all over my legs and arms. That night was the night that we became closer than just step brothers, but as blood brothers. He took care of me and looked after me after that incident.

I wondered why Yixing gege's mother didn't really take care of him. One day I asked him and it turns out that he was also an "accident." He told me that his father really wanted to have total custody over him but because at the time his mother also wanted him, and since she also gave birth to him she won the argument. After a while she began to think that he was just a nuisance in her life and began to ignore his existence. Of course though, she fed him and "took care" of him but it was only because it was the least a mother could do for her child. I kind of envied Yixing gege because at least his mother and father cared, which was something I obviously didn’t have.

Grade school years flew by. It was the same routine every month; my father would come home drunk one day and beat me. Teachers saw my bruises and didn't do anything about it. It was towards my 7th grade year I started to develop my addiction. I found out that when my father is drunk, for some odd reason, he is afraid of fire. I found this out one night when I was heating up leftover food for me and Yixing gege. As I was removing the pot from the stove, my father came into the kitchen and started yelling, walking backwards until he hit the edge of the island counter.

After that incident I would always stay in the kitchen near the stove. Whenever I came straight home from school I would do my homework on that countertop, just in case my father came home. I started experimenting though, making little tents with wooden chopsticks and napkins and setting it on fire. The flames were rather calming and entertaining for me. My "mother" one time walked into me doing that and slapped me across the face.

"What the are you doing!? Do you want to burn the house on fire and make us homeless!? Have you no sanity boy? I thought they taught you not to play with fire in school." She shouted in my face as she put out the flames.

I started to secretly building my models of buildings out of toothpicks in my room. Yixing gege thought they were amazing and told me to not mind his mother. He said that she too also needs a stress relief sometimes. Apparently working at a club can be "stressful" sometimes.

There was this one time where I almost burned down the house tree times in one day. I was feeling rather down that day and I began constructing and actual building, the Eiffel tower. Being the cliché romantic I am, I enjoyed working hours upon hours gluing toothpicks together. I worked on it all night and thank god it was a Friday that day because I was so sleep deprived that Saturday and if I went to school I would have passed out in my first class. I carefully moved the delicate model onto the countertop in the kitchen and looked for a lighter in one of the drawers. Luckily for me though, it was around 3AM at night so no one would potentially walk in on me, or so I thought.

Apparently my father had to go to the bathroom. Perfect timing really because the hallway where the bathroom is located has a wonderful view of the entire kitchen. He knew I was awake and in the kitchen because I assume he saw me while walking to the bathroom. He witnessed me about to light my masterpiece on fire and that wasn't very too happy about that. As I was about to light it he yelled out my name, causing me to drop the lighter on the floor. He dashed down towards the kitchen as I quickly got the fire extinguisher from the counter and set out the mini fire that was eating away the bottom of the counter.

Of course, I received a punishment which was a heated argument with my father but it soon escalated into a beating. He eventually went back to sleep and left me on the kitchen floor with another set of bruises layering my pale complexion. He had smashed my model of the Eiffel Tower, leaving a mess of toothpicks scattered along the floor. I struggled to stand on my two feet and began to clean up the mess in agonizing pain.

Later that day around noon time, I had pieced together the Eiffel Tower once again and this time took it outside in the backyard. I placed it on the table out on the deck and placed the fire extinguisher right next to my right leg, just in case something would go wrong. Better safe than sorry right? Hopefully this time no one would get in my way.

I lit the modeled structure on fire, the flames slowly shifting with the breeze of the wind. I stared as the flames decreased and increased in size, slowly taking the enjoyment in but of course someone had to disrupt my peace of mind. My “mother” had woken up from her sleep and wanted a smoke and saw the flames outside. Of course she put it out and told my father about this, resulting into another beating on the same day. Even so, I still persisted to turn this model into ashes.

It was 8 o’clock night time and also dinner time. The entire family, my father, “mother”, Yixing gege and I, were sitting at the dining table eating our meal silently. After an exchange of displeasing stares with my father, Yixing gege’s mother decided to nudge my father. He cleared his throat and glared at me.

“We decided to send you to therapy. You almost burned down the house twice, this is not acceptable Zitao.” he said as focused on me.

I ignored it and stood up abruptly and brought out my half burned model structure and placed in on the coffee table in the living room. I quickly went through the kitchen drawers and pulled out a lighter. Yixing stood up and tried to stop me but I harshly bumped shoulders with him as I walked past him. As I stood next to the coffee table, I smirked at my father and his wife. I quickly lighted the structure and dropped the lighter on the coffee table, cause it also to burn as well.

After that is was all a blur. I assumed I was abused by my father for the third time in the same day because of the unbearable pain I had the next day. It hurt so terribly it felt like my legs would snap if I attempted to stand up. The next day I was sent to therapy straight away. The therapist didn’t really seem to care about me; she looked like she wasn’t even writing anything down on her paper. I didn’t tell her the entire story of course, well actually I didn’t really tell her anything. She did most of the talking really, she asked a bunch of questions and I refused to answer them. She eventually gave up on me and dismissed me from her service. In total I had about three different therapists within the past two months. I was rather stubborn with them and I was only in the 8^th grade. 

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Bam, chapter 2 posted. :D 

For the sake of keeping this story kind of short

I'm making these chapters a bit longer than my normal 800 word chapters lolol

As you can see, i recently added that "tradegy" tag.

DON'T KILL ME FOR THAT PLEASE.

But yeah, tell me all what you think of the story so far~

Criticism is accepted ♥

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